I’m fairly wiped out from all this so far.

Saturday I had my first round of chemo after getting a PICC line put in earlier that morning. Before I left the clinic, I was outfitted with a HEPA mask which I have to wear anytime I'm outside the Clinic or my hotel room. Outside and even in the car. After the procedure, Polly drove me back to our Marriott hotel where I mostly crashed. It’s not exactly top notch, but definitely workable. My appetite is still pretty off and intermittent bouts of nausea so I didn't eat too much. That evening, Chuck and I watched the Warriers-King game. Not side-by-side, but he was watching on his tv, I was watching on mine. We FaceTimed each other on our iPhones so we could watch it together. The only problem was that my tv broadcast the game at least 10 seconds later than what Chuck was watching. A little disconcerting. Then, just during the final 20 seconds of the game, our tv went blank. The satellite Dish company apologized, but there was no watching the game on our tv. Polly and I figured we could listen to the game by listening to Chuck's phone. At the same time, my phone went dead. Ran out of battery. Sheesh.

Sunday I was back at the clinic for round two of chemo. This time it went a little faster, but a complication developed later on. A nurse called me in the evening and said that one test came back showing I had severe pancreatitis which was likely the cause of my GI upset and pain. My Lipase level was 1579 (0-160 is normal). The result of that is that I might not be able to get my third shot tomorrow, leaving the entire CAR-T procedure in jeopardy. A little while later, another nurse called me to tell me to pack a bag because it seemed likely they would hospitalize me tomorrow for the pancreatitis. I was also told not to eat anything until after the test came back tomorrow, which honestly wasn't hard for me to do. It was also hard not to be anxious about this new development.

Monday, Polly dropped me off at the Clinic. They took the required test to check on the pancreatitis. After waiting a 45 minutes for the results, finally good news. My Lipase levels dropped from 1579 to 300. They were satisfied that the trend was downward and I could proceed with the third round of chemo and continue on to CAR-T. Whew! They also identified the culprit as fat intolerance. Over the past few weeks, I was trying to put on weight by eating too much fatty foods, cheesy sauces and the like. That means pretty much a fat-free diet (or nearly so) for the foreseeable future. After todays infusion, I definitely felt a little better. I was even able to cook myself a little dinner. Of course, low fat.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have a day off before getting admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. Polly will take me on a drive up in the hills. The hills around here are very green and there are lots of Spring flowers in bloom. Depending, I might even step out of the car and go for a very short walk although I still get pretty fatigued. Yes, I still have to wear my HEPA mask.

Thanks to those of you who emailed or texted me to check and see how I’m doing. Apologies for not responding, but using the blog is a lot easier for me than trying to respond to each person. Still, I do appreciate hearing from folks even if I don't respond.

Thanks to my friend Ron who came across another picture of Quox taking his friends down into the depths to do battle with the Gnome King. This is another picture from the same Oz book I have. Note the lightbulb on Quox’s tail. Easier to find the Gnome King in the dark caverns.